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Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)

Knowledge of the factors influencing foraging efficiency in top predators can provide insights into the effects of environmental variability on their populations. Seabirds are important marine predators foraging in a highly temporally and spatially variable environment. While numerous studies have f...

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Autores principales: Cansse, Thomas, Fauchet, Louarn, Wells, Melanie R., Arnould, John P. Y.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Company of Biologists Ltd 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6994950/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31941701
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.047514
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author Cansse, Thomas
Fauchet, Louarn
Wells, Melanie R.
Arnould, John P. Y.
author_facet Cansse, Thomas
Fauchet, Louarn
Wells, Melanie R.
Arnould, John P. Y.
author_sort Cansse, Thomas
collection PubMed
description Knowledge of the factors influencing foraging efficiency in top predators can provide insights into the effects of environmental variability on their populations. Seabirds are important marine predators foraging in a highly temporally and spatially variable environment. While numerous studies have focussed on search time and its effects on foraging energetics in seabirds, relatively little is known about the factors influencing capture success and prey profitability in these predators. In the present study, animal-borne cameras were used to investigate the chase durations, capture success, handling durations and profitability of prey consumed by Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) (n=95) from two breeding colonies in south-eastern Australia exposed to different oceanographic conditions. Capture success was generally lower when individuals foraged alone. However, foraging in multi-species groups and in high prey densities increased chase time, while larger prey elicited longer handling times. While prey type influenced profitability, high prey density and foraging in multi-species groups was found to lower prey profitability due to increased time expenditure. While previous studies have found group foraging reduces search time, the increased profitability explains why some animals may favour solitary foraging. Therefore, future studies should combine search time and the currently found factors.
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spelling pubmed-69949502020-02-03 Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) Cansse, Thomas Fauchet, Louarn Wells, Melanie R. Arnould, John P. Y. Biol Open Research Article Knowledge of the factors influencing foraging efficiency in top predators can provide insights into the effects of environmental variability on their populations. Seabirds are important marine predators foraging in a highly temporally and spatially variable environment. While numerous studies have focussed on search time and its effects on foraging energetics in seabirds, relatively little is known about the factors influencing capture success and prey profitability in these predators. In the present study, animal-borne cameras were used to investigate the chase durations, capture success, handling durations and profitability of prey consumed by Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) (n=95) from two breeding colonies in south-eastern Australia exposed to different oceanographic conditions. Capture success was generally lower when individuals foraged alone. However, foraging in multi-species groups and in high prey densities increased chase time, while larger prey elicited longer handling times. While prey type influenced profitability, high prey density and foraging in multi-species groups was found to lower prey profitability due to increased time expenditure. While previous studies have found group foraging reduces search time, the increased profitability explains why some animals may favour solitary foraging. Therefore, future studies should combine search time and the currently found factors. The Company of Biologists Ltd 2020-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC6994950/ /pubmed/31941701 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.047514 Text en © 2020. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed.
spellingShingle Research Article
Cansse, Thomas
Fauchet, Louarn
Wells, Melanie R.
Arnould, John P. Y.
Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title_full Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title_fullStr Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title_full_unstemmed Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title_short Factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in Australasian gannets (Morus serrator)
title_sort factors influencing prey capture success and profitability in australasian gannets (morus serrator)
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6994950/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31941701
http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/bio.047514
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